Just 2.7% of full-time undergraduates at Oxford in 2008/09 – around 75 students out of a total intake that year of around 2,875 – were from those disadvantaged areas. At Cambridge, the figure was 3.7% – around 105 students of about 2,930.

Bristol, Imperial College, King's College London, the London School of Economics and University College London were also among universities where less than 5% of the intake came from "low participation neighbourhoods", the figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) reveal.